Definition
The Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) that has jurisdiction over the airspace containing the destination airport of a flight.
Plain English
The regional air traffic control center responsible for the airspace where you are going to land.
Context Anchor
Seen in air traffic control and traffic management discussions, especially when arrivals to an airport are being delayed, rerouted, or spaced out.
Why Pilots Care
Coordination with the Arrival Center prevents delays, maintains safe separation from other traffic, and smooths the transition from en route to terminal operations.
Intuition Check
Do not read “Arrival Center” as a building where passengers arrive. In this context, it means the FAA control center responsible for arrival traffic into a destination airport.
Example Sentence 1
On a flight from Denver to Kansas City, Kansas City Center is the arrival center because it controls the airspace around the destination airport.
Example Sentence 2
Arrival Center coordinated with the tower to sequence multiple inbound flights during peak traffic.